What can you tell me about the rules in Maryland?

[Penguin]

There is a chance (just a chance, but I need to do research) that we will relocate to Maryland. I grew up in Maryland, so I know plenty about MD. But I know nothing about homeschooling there. Most of what I have found says precious little about high school.

 

My son will be in 10th in 2016-2017, and we would relocate sometime during the school year (an international relocation during the year...someone pick me up off the floor, please).

 

We have been using Clonlara, which awards an accredited diploma. The reason I started with them was because it was the easiest way to legally homeschool in our current location. Well, now I am used to Clonlara and I like them. I feel like I don't want to change to another system if I don't have to.

 

I was reading about umbrella groups. I would prefer something inclusive/secular, and I found MPNL. But their website states that umbrella high school programs may NOT be accredited. Where would that leave us if we stick with Clonlara? With supervision by the county?

 

Know anything about Dual Enrollment?

 

(I am not certain that we have any MD high schoolers on this subforum. If not, I will try to xpost).

Edited July 9, 2016 by Penguin

[Daria]

I am the parent of a MD high school student!

 

We do the county and it is easy. I will tell you more later, but I am on my way to work.

[Rebecca]

I am the parent of two MD high school students.

 

I do not know much about using the County but it might be a great option for you.

 

We use an oversight. Dual enrollment is easy in my county.

 

Please PM if you would like more info! There is a great Facebook resource but it is specific to my county. I am sure there are others for other counties.

 

Rebecca

[Penguin]

Am I right that homeschool students are exempt from the end of course assessments?

[Daria]

I'm back! 

 

I know nothing about umbrella schools, because we didn't choose that option, but I can tell you how the PS review option works in my county .  

 

County Review 

 

I only homeschooled for one year, and am going to return to homeschooling this fall.  At the beginning of the year, I filed a paperwork with the county with my intent to homeschool.  Technically you don't need to file the paperwork once your child is 16, but the local community college requires students to be enrolled as homeschoolers to participate in Dual Enrollment.

 

Twice a year, you get invited to a portfolio review.  The review is held in the auditorium at the central office.  You make an appointment, and on the day you come in and there are a bunch of tables and they direct you to the person who will see you.  

 

You do not need to bring your kid, but you can if you want.  At the meeting, you need to show 2 pieces "evidence" that your chid is receiving instruction in each of the following subjects: 

 

Math, English, Science Social Studies, Music, Art, P.E., Health

 

The evidence does not need to show that the work is appropriate.  For example, I forgot to bring any documentation for math, but I had my iPad so I pulled up Xtramath, and Dragonbox as my 2 pieces of evidence.  Now, my kid was supposedly reviewing Alg. 1 and Geometry in preparation for Algebra 2.  There is no way you can argue that Dragonbox and Xtramath constitute a complete math curriculum in that circumstances, but it was accepted.  I did tell them that we were doing other things, because I would have been embarrassed not to.  

 

The work also doesn't need to show a full year's worth of work.  It's just 2 samples.  You can put aside the first 2 pieces or the last 2 pieces your child did, or any 2 random pieces.  

 

At the high school level, if you're going by what the county requires, which is 1 year of PE, 1 year of arts, and 1/2 a year of health, you're OK.  So if you say "We are planning on health next year", or "This year he's focusing on music", they're fine with that.  My kid was working as a stage manager, and I pulled up the facebook page with the cast/crew list as "evidence", he was also taking a filmmaking class and I showed the receipt.  

 

Online Schooling

 

Technically, in MD, the parent needs to be the primary teacher, and needs to teach at least 50% of the content.  You can't say that your kid receives their instruction from Clonlara.  You can tell them that you are teaching your kid with materials from Clonlara.  We used Florida Virtual School for almost all of my son's work, but since I worked with him on his essays, supervised his science labs etc . . . it still counted as instruction from me.  

 

Dual Enrollment

 

DE students pay full tuition at our CC, whether they are in PS or homeschooled.  I believe there may be some financial aid, but we wouldn't have qualified so I didn't investigate.

 

In order to participate you need to either be a junior with at least a 2.75 G.P.A., or a senior with a 2.5 or apply for an exception.  We didn't apply for an exception, so I don't know the details.  

 

DE kids can't take any classes considered "developmental", they need to test as "college ready" on the Accuplacer in the area of study, or show appropriate SAT/ACT/AP scores.  So, for example, if your kid tests as "college reading" in English and reading but not math then they can take classes in English and Social Studies but not Math or most sciences.  Math and science generally require kids to be college ready in both English and math, so if you don't pass English you need to wait and retest.  

 

The college also offers non credit classes in things like art that you can take without testing in.  

 

DE students are only allowed to take 7 credits a semester.  I've seen that listed as 2 classes, but I'm not sure if it's no more than 2 AND 7 credits, or if you could take say a 1 credit PE, a 1 credit chorus and a 3 credit English class.  We have a meeting coming up and I'm going to ask about that since it's important for my kid's area of study.

 

End of Course Exams

 

Technically, homeschooled students can choose whether or not to take the standardized testing.  In reality, our local school has no idea how to make that work and told us that we couldn't take the test.  I wanted him to take it, because he was transferring back, but ended up skipping it.  

 

Combined Programming

 

Homeschooled kids can not take any classes, or participate in extracurriculars operated by the school.  I do know one HS kid who plays a club sport that is affiliated with the school, and my kid did a ski club that picked up and dropped off at the school but was run by an outside organization. 

 

 

[Guest]

Penguin, I homeschool in Maryland, though I have not done high school; my kids went to B&M school. But, I use an Umbrella. The umbrella I use is The Excelsior Academy. You can look them up online. Under this umbrella, the director helps you create a plan that will produce acceptable transcripts. The director is also highly knowledgeable about DE. There is one review per year.

 

I do not know anything about Conlera, but I know TEA accepts hsers of all stripes; unschoolers, religious, non-religious, classical, whatever.

[GThomas]

We're with Clonlara. Aren't they an umbrella school?

[Daria]

We're with Clonlara. Aren't they an umbrella school?

 

In MD, the attendance laws say that a student must either attend a brick and mortar school or be registered as a homeschooler.  There's no option for "online school".  

 

If you register as a homeschooler, you can either have the county oversee you, or you can register with a "church umbrella" which has to be on an approved list.  The only approved options are nonprofits, run by churches, and able to do a home visit in MD. 

 

So, while Clonlara might do the same things as an umbrella school, or even be an umbrella school, they probably don't meet MD's requirements.  

[TiaTia]

Searching Maryland law turns out to be MUCH harder than searching the Code of Virginia (sheesh!) but here's a good place to start:

http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/msde/nonpublicschools/npdocs/fact_sheets/np_fact_home_instruction.htm

 

It has links to regulations in COMAR and statutes via LexisNexis (shudder). 

 

Edited July 10, 2016 by TiaTia

[Mandamom]

 "Technically you don't need to file the paperwork once your child is 16"

 

The law recently changed on this as mandatory education increased. I think it now goes through 17 years old -- so under 18.  

 

Yes.  Maryland law, Education Article, §7-301, Annotated Code of Maryland, Compulsory Attendance, states that each child who resides in Maryland and is 5 years old or older and under 17 shall attend a public school regularly during the entire school year unless the child is otherwise receiving regular, thorough instruction during the school year in the studies usually taught in the public school to children of the same age.  Maryland recognizes nonpublic schools and home instruction as alternatives to public school enrollment as a means for students to receive regular, thorough instruction.

 

 

 

[Daria]

 "Technically you don't need to file the paperwork once your child is 16"

 

The law recently changed on this as mandatory education increased. I think it now goes through 17 years old -- so under 18.  

 

Yes.  Maryland law, Education Article, §7-301, Annotated Code of Maryland, Compulsory Attendance, states that each child who resides in Maryland and is 5 years old or older and under 17 shall attend a public school regularly during the entire school year unless the child is otherwise receiving regular, thorough instruction during the school year in the studies usually taught in the public school to children of the same age.  Maryland recognizes nonpublic schools and home instruction as alternatives to public school enrollment as a means for students to receive regular, thorough instruction.

 

Sorry, I meant "over 16", once your child is 17 you no longer have to file. 

[Penguin]

Thank you all for your thorough replies!

I am still trying to wrap my head around how MD and Clonlara could fit together.

Clonlara is most definitely not an online school. They provide neither materials nor instruction. The provide advising and an accredited diploma. I guess that if we ended up in MD, we would not need them, but...I now I like Clonlara and dislike the idea of MD forcing me away from them.

 

I wonder what his final transcript would look like - 9th grade Clonlara, part of 10th grade Clonlara, then homemade from that point forward ?

 

Well, at any rate, I think I have enough to go on until our possible relocation sorts itself out :)

[Daria]

Thank you all for your thorough replies!

I am still trying to wrap my head around how MD and Clonlara could fit together.

Clonlara is most definitely not an online school. They provide neither materials nor instruction. The provide advising and an accredited diploma. I guess that if we ended up in MD, we would not need them, but...I now I like Clonlara and dislike the idea of MD forcing me away from them.

 

I wonder what his final transcript would look like - 9th grade Clonlara, part of 10th grade Clonlara, then homemade from that point forward ?

 

Well, at any rate, I think I have enough to go on until our possible relocation sorts itself out :)

Are there 2 Clonlara options? It looks that way on the website.

 

It sounds like you could do Clonlara and just go to the county review every 6 months.

[Guest]

Thank you all for your thorough replies!

I am still trying to wrap my head around how MD and Clonlara could fit together.

Clonlara is most definitely not an online school. They provide neither materials nor instruction. The provide advising and an accredited diploma. I guess that if we ended up in MD, we would not need them, but...I now I like Clonlara and dislike the idea of MD forcing me away from them.

 

I wonder what his final transcript would look like - 9th grade Clonlara, part of 10th grade Clonlara, then homemade from that point forward ?

 

Well, at any rate, I think I have enough to go on until our possible relocation sorts itself out :)

What I think would work for you, then, is to continue with Clonlara, register as a homeschloer with the county and come under the county review system. As Daria said, you can only call Clonlara your umbrella if it is approved as one by MD (don't know). But I do think the county reviews go more easily if you are accountable to some other organization. You would go to the review with a sample of your student's work in each subject, which is planned by Clonlara. I personally would also bring the plan or outline that Clonlara provides. Then, I would think your transcripts would say both Clonlara and also detail what materials you used and a grade for each subject.

[GThomas]

Thank you all for your thorough replies!

I am still trying to wrap my head around how MD and Clonlara could fit together.

Clonlara is most definitely not an online school. They provide neither materials nor instruction. The provide advising and an accredited diploma. I guess that if we ended up in MD, we would not need them, but...I now I like Clonlara and dislike the idea of MD forcing me away from them.

 

I wonder what his final transcript would look like - 9th grade Clonlara, part of 10th grade Clonlara, then homemade from that point forward ?

 

Well, at any rate, I think I have enough to go on until our possible relocation sorts itself out :)

Have you asked Clonlara? I just sent them an email yesterday about our situation. We just moved from Dubai to Texas two months ago and there are no requirements that we need to worry about in Texas. But now we're moving this week to California and I think we will have to set ourselves up as a private school (but we'll continue to use Clonlara...we like them too!)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Penguin]

Have you asked Clonlara? I just sent them an email yesterday about our situation. We just moved from Dubai to Texas two months ago and there are no requirements that we need to worry about in Texas. But now we're moving this week to California and I think we will have to set ourselves up as a private school (but we'll continue to use Clonlara...we like them too!)

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

No, I have not asked Clonlara yet. It would be premature at this point.

 

I would be curious to know how repatriation / reverse culture shock impacted you and/or your kids, if you are willing to discuss it. That is a BIG concern of mine.

Feel free to PM me :)

 

Edited b/c I goofed up the quote function.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Penguin